May be India is being targeted as part of the evangelisation campaign of the Church. The World Council of Churches has set a target of one Christian in every village and one Bible in every house by the year 2000 ... Religious conversions create a social schism in the village community. In a village hamlet of 300 people, if 120 get converted to Christianity, it makes life difficult for the other 180. It is not merely the addition of one more God in the row of pictures. Its effects penetrate deep down, affecting societal amity and disrupting material well-being and harmony. Where earlier all 300 accompanied a funeral procession to the crematorium, now 120 go to the burial grounds. And where does the grave yard come from? Often from the land owned by the 180. This is a complex social phenomenon, it rattles those who are not converted and all the more because the church and the administration connive against them.

.... Violence could be a reaction to the target-2000 programme. The Christian campaign is deliberately provocative. They have been attacking and abusing Hindu gods and goddesses.

... We have a situation where tolerance is being preached to one section when other religions are teaching intolerance. There are faiths which talk in terms of elevation from the lower culture to the higher culture.

Who has given them the authority to decide which religion is superior? It is the continuous demeaning of one's identity --- in most cases, the tribal identity - that leads to tensions.

If the argument is that what is happening now is the result of the hate campaign of the Sangh Parivar, then go back further. You have also to concede that it is the politics of minorityism, the insensitive nature of it, which has brought the country to this brink.

The solution (is) Indianisation of all religions ... We are already a Hindu Rashtra. If you accept that nation and state are not co-terminus, then, geo-culturally we are a Hindu nation. This is because a sense of belonging is embedded in the spirit of Hinduness, which, in turn, is the result of living together and sharing the same sanskriti for a millennia.

Hinduness will be common, even if the mode of worship is different. And that will motivate respect for all religions. Hindu Rashtra or Hinduness also means Bharatiyata, Indianness. They are all synonymous.

The BJP and the RSS ... are on identical ideological wave length; they share a sense of belonging that is intense ... The relationship between the organisations belonging to the RSS school of thought is unique. There is a unique blend of functional autonomy and spiritual co- operation. For insiders, therefore, there is no confusion. (Source: The Times of India, 30 January, 1999)